HONOLULU – Saturday proved to be one of the most unpredictable and wild days in Pacific West Conference volleyball history with Azusa Pacific sweeping BYU-Hawai'i in Laie and Hawai'i-Hilo shocking league-leading California Baptist.
The conference's final match of the day between Chaminade University and Hawai'i Pacific University may be been the wildest of them all.
The Silverswords stormed back from a 0-2 deficit to down the Sharks, 20-25, 23-25, 25-18, 25-23, 15-10 in front of a raucous McCabe Gym crowd of 212.
The victory snapped a 15-match losing streak to their intercity rivals, spanning seven years. Chaminade's last victory over HPU prior to Saturday was on Sept. 8, 2008 at the Blaisdell Center.
The Silverswords, who improved to 14-5 overall and 7-4 in the PacWest, got 22 kills and 10 digs from
Keani Passi with
Kim Spring adding 10 and three blocks.
Daisia LaBrie added nine kills and three blocks while
Suncica Bakic had eight kills.
Reigna Johnson and
Cassie Rushlow contributed with seven kills each. Johnson also added a match-high six total blocks as Chaminade out-blocked HPU, 9-7.
The Sharks were led by Pomai Recca's 21 kills while Elizabeth Culpepper put down 20.
The 'Swords began the match with four four-point leads, the last at 12-8, before HPU jumped ahead at 13-12 via a 5-0 run. The Sharks later expanded the lead to 20-16 to help them capture the first set.
HPU opened up an 11-8 lead in the second set but Chaminade would eventually overtake the Sharks at 18-17 when Johnson ripped down an overpass then teamed with Spring on a block for a deuce lead, forcing the Sharks to call timeout. After HPU tied it at 20, CUH got three straight with Spring's soft roll shot, a
Kasse-Ann Kiriu-Dela Cruz ace followed by a Sharks hitting error to put Chaminade up 23-20. But the 'Swords couldn't get a sideout to set up set point as a 5-0 HPU run ended the set and Chaminade found itself down 0-2.
With little margin of error, the 'Swords opened the third with a Rushlow kill, forced an attack error then a
Natashya Enos ace forced an early HPU timeout with Chaminade up 3-0. HPU closed to within a point at 7-6 but this time the 'Swords would get two Johnson kills and forced two HPU errors to extend their advantage to 12-8. Hawai'i Pacific answered with two straight points but the Silverswords put the brakes on with a 9-2 run late to help them stave off elimination.
Needing to win the fourth to extend the match, Chaminade burst out to an 11-3 lead behind LaBrie's two kills and block. But as it had all night, HPU mounted a rally and finally caught the 'Swords at 20. Rushlow got a kill and block to help put Chaminade up 23-21 and LaBrie then put down a pair of attacks including a floor-denter on set point to send the match to a decisive fifth.
In final set, the outcome seemed bleak as the Sharks took a 5-2 lead. However, behind the boisterous "Nade Squad," the Silverswords fed off their energy, scoring two straight points then tied it at 5 when
Skyler Curry's free ball return landed in front of three Sharks. On the next serve, Culpepper hit long and the Silverswords had their first lead of the set at 6-5. The teams traded points before Bakic put down three straight kills to put the home team up 9-6.
After Culpepper's kill got the serve back for the Sharks, the Johnson Roofing Company opened its doors with Johnson teaming with Spring and Rushlow with blocks, part of the set's critical 5-1 run to put the 'Swords up 12-7. HPU made things interesting by closing to 13-10 but Spring's kill ended the mini-run. Then at aloha ball, Kiriu-Dela Cruz's serve was overpassed where Passi was waiting and slammed down the winner to end the seven-year curse and sending the home crowd into a frenzy.
In the end, Chaminade racked up 65 kills to HPU's 57 and out-hit them, .230-.184. While the Sharks out-dug the Silverswords 63-60, Chaminade had more assists, 58-53. Enos and Curry had 29 and 23 assists for Chaminade, respectively, with senior libero
Brenda Walker piling up a match-high 23 digs.
The Silverswords will now take to the road for their next five matches, starting Wednesday at UH-Hilo, followed by their Bay Area trek on Nov. 2 at Dominican.
